Review: Silarasa

Updated 6 June 2009: This place is closed.

Update: Miki had left a comment stated that Silarasa had been opened for quite some time and not new as I've noted below.

Brian mentioned that Silarasa was reopened in May 2006 and it belonged to his friend's family. I have to believe him that the Nasi Lemak is still great. Can't wait to try that soon.

We were at The Curve back in late January and were looking for a place to dine in. As we were walking to the information board... we chanced upon a bunting announcing a new eatery. Upon closer look at the name... Hubby and I looked at each other... both our eyes twinkled, no, not because we're still madly in love *ahem*, more like we were both delighted to see a familiar name.

Does Silarasa ring a bell??? No? Hmm maybe not to most of you... Silarasa used to be located at 1 Utama many years back before shifted to Taman Tun Dr Ismail for a while before disappearing altogether! This cafe served one of the best Laksa Johor in town back then. Hubby and I, in our early courting days *grin* are big fans of Silarasa!



We quicken our pace to look for Silarasa which is not located around the open courtyard, in fact they were located far away from the maddening crowd... towards the North Entrance (Maybank/7-11) of the mall.

Upon sitting down, the decor and settings looked familiar, very country style, warm and homey. We asked the server and she confirmed that they were indeed the same operator. We were so happy and she was too. She looked at boiboi and pointed that boiboi was not even born yet LOL!!! She informed they opened for business just a few weeks back.

Looking at the menu, it seems more extensive and they have Special Set Meals that come with a drink of either soft drink or coffee or teh tarik, mains and dessert.

I opted for Laksa Johor set (RM11.80) naturally. One bite and I'm very disappointed. The spaghetti (err Laksa Johor does use spaghetti as the noodble base) has been over cooked. The laksa gravy have a bit of lingering fishy smell and it just doesn't taste right. Can't really pin point where went wrong.

Hubby asked for Nasi Beriyani Gam Chicken set (RM12.80) that came with chicken beriyani rice with an egg, beef dalca and acar rampai. I had a few bites and have to confess that the chicken meat is kinda tough. The spices did not get marinated thru the meat at all. The beriyani rice luckily was flavourful, can taste some minyak sapi in it. The watery dalca and acar did not help to live up this dish. I doubt they were done ala gam style too. The worst had yet to come though...

Gula Melaka Agar-agar was the worst dessert we ever eaten. Even my boiboi refused any more bites after 2 spoonfuls. It's so unlike him who loves sweet stuff. After tasting one piece (we were given 4 squares each), I totally understand why it does not attract him... it's not sweet at all (are we still on sugar rationing??), and no gula melaka could be tasted. We hardly waste our food but seriously, we couldn't manage to finish them.



We both have teh tarik and it has been a while since we both agreed that this is one of the best teh tarik we have. It's creamy and not sickly sweet unlike most Malay eateries we've been to. This was Silarasa only life saver!

We have a chat with the server. Apparently she agreed with us that some how the food doesn't tasted right and had received the same feedbacks from patrons. As conversation flows... she revealed the reason behind this. The current chef, the owner employed, uses his/her (not sure gender cos she just mentioned tukang masak) recipes. Previously, the owner uses their own family recipes, hence the huge difference.

Since this was our first visit, it's too early to judge them as yet. Moreover by now, they should have a few months on their belt to tune their recipes based on feedbacks received. I'm gonna go back and try their nasi lemak which I remember was good back then. I used to like their western desserts like bread and butter pudding, so this will be on my list too.

Please do not let my words hamper your visit there. Just give them a try and let me know what do you think. I do hope they've improved by now.


Silarasa
G94 Ground Floor
The Curve
Tel: 03-7710 0358
Opening hours: 10.30am - 11.00pm

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